Cristina: Turkey and beyond ...
Thursday, November 25 I learned that the Thanksgiving day, even though it is a tradition rooted in the hearts and minds of Americans, each year is proclaimed presidential decree.
Naively I believed that it was an occasion taken to be the last Thursday of the month of November without any special formalization: I was wrong, and how was I wrong!
year Obama signed the 147 ° decree, the first dating back to 1863 bears the signature of Abraham Lincoln even if the institution the festival dates back to times immemorial (1621) and the first official speech to the United States of America on Thanksgiving Day was the first president George Washington (1789).
I also realized that Thanksgiving is a national holiday that Americans of all backgrounds, of every faith and every background feel deeply geographical. I wondered why I found these answers and common sense. We thank the almighty hand ( Almighty hand ) as received during the year but is not a purely religious holiday if it involves a belief that inevitably excludes others. Every faith can recognize in ' omnipotent hand ' than your God and whoever does not believe there is still the place: there is basically something for worth if only to thank the good fortune? It 's a pretty American party (also a Canadian actually) and this creates cohesion and a sense of belonging and in particular symbolizes the meeting between different cultures and values \u200b\u200bthe principle of' hospitality .
Beyond all hypocrisy that any celebration of this kind and not so cleverly hidden - brothers for a day, knives for the rest of the year - we must recognize the soothing effect it has on souls, like a balm to soften the harshness of daily life ... at least for a day: personal experience.
A colleague very My kind of engineer invited us and two other colleagues just like us (maybe we did a little 'pain at the thought that we were all away from our families) to enjoy a day of Thanksgiving at home with his people. Half comes from Japan and half from China even though they live in the U.S. now a lifetime, some of them already mixed couple indisputable index of integration and mixing of peoples.
were four strangers in the middle of a large group of relatives: grandparents, uncles, nieces, in short all the generations represented. We shared food, travel experiences and life in general, noting similarities and differences. We were four strangers, but we have been very briefly, the reception was frank and sober, as I like, without excessive formalism and sickly.
The invitation to do "like home" was heard and not fitting, no social etiquette, not to give precedence to economic category, only people who have been together for a day and are doing well and we with them.
The first thing we had to enter their home was take off our shoes, but over the initial embarrassment, especially for me and my engineer at all accustomed to this practice, we threw ourselves into the fray after the bare and the necessary presentations to the inevitable crippling funny names, we have honored the table known as two good food: we had a hunger!
The ritual of taking off one's shoes, as well recall the ancient oriental culture, it is apparently related to the often vain attempt to keep clean "carpet" (the ugly carpet) that Americans love for an unexplained reason: the found everywhere, there is also in my apartment, but in my opinion is much more. Show wear socks or bare feet is to discover the other, it's like to divest himself of all barriers and lower the protective shield: it is what it is, so without armor.
Perhaps the secret to overcome prejudices and to look each other for who we really are just that: take off your shoes!
They thanked their Almighty hand, we thanked them for their generous hospitality and the beautiful day that I will not fail to put in my suitcase along with all Americans remember what I learned.
Here is the menu of the day: call it Mex-Italian-asia-American
appetizers
bruschetta al pomodoro
vegetable crudités with tartar sauce
assorted pizzas
tart radicchio, gorgonzola and walnuts
pie potatoes and peppers
nachos and guacamole
crackers with various sauces
creamed spinach, artichokes and cheese to spread on bread or nachos
salad
shrimp cocktail
rolls and dumplings Chinese
rice dumplings
red potatoes and cinnamon sweet pineapple
ENTRE'E
roast turkey with stuffing
baked ham
vegetarian turkey stuffing (made with tofu)
condiments: cranberry sauce, gravy and vegetarian classic
SIDE
mashed garlic potatoes
sweet corn milk
grilled mushrooms
rice with raisins
white rice
salad
DESSERT
pumpkin pie and cinnamon
pumpkin pie vegan (no eggs and no milk)
pecan pie
Hawaiian pie (Layer cake with fruit and whipped cream)
bread pudding
apple pie
waffers Japanese
ginger bread
pastry dough pastry
fresh fruits (melon, watermelon and melon white)
soft nougat almonds and pistachios
coffee
yerba mate (tea typical of South America)
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